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JOACHIM BARRANDE (1799-1883)

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Originally appearing in Volume V03, Page 431 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOACHIM See also:BARRANDE (1799-1883)  , See also:Austrian geologist and palaeontologist, was See also:born at Saugues, Haute See also:Loire, on the 11th of See also:August 1799, and educated in the iN tole Polytechnique at See also:Paris . Although he had received the training of an engineer, his first See also:appointment was that of See also:tutor to the duc de See also:Bordeaux (afterwards known as the See also:comte de See also:Chambord), See also:grandson of See also:Charles X., and when the See also:king abdicated in 183o, See also:Barrande accompanied the royal exiles to See also:England and See also:Scotland, and afterwards to See also:Prague . Settling in that See also:city in 1831, he became occupied in See also:engineering See also:works, and his See also:attention was then attracted to the fossils from the See also:Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Bohemia . The publication in 1839 of See also:Murchison's See also:Silurian See also:System incited Barrande to carry on systematic researches on the See also:equivalent strata in Bohemia . For ten years (1840-1850) he made a detailed study of these rocks, engaging workmen specially to collect fossils, and in this way he obtained upwards of 3500 See also:species of See also:graptolites, See also:brachiopoda, See also:mollusca, See also:crustacea (particularly See also:trilobites) and fishes . The first See also:volume of his See also:great See also:work, Systeme silurien du centre de la Bohtme (dealing with trilobites), appeared in 1852; and from that date until 1881, he issued twenty-one See also:quarto volumes of See also:text and plates . Two other volumes were issued after his See also:death in 1887 and 1894 . It is estimated that he spent nearly £1o,000 on these works . In addition he published a large number of See also:separate papers . In recognition of his important researches the See also:Geological Society of See also:London in 1855 awarded to him the See also:Wollaston See also:medal . The See also:term Silurian was employed by Barrande, after Murchison, in a more comprehensive sense than was justified by subsequent knowledge . Thus the Silurian rocks of Bohemia were divided into certain stages (A to II)— the two lowermost, A and B without fossils (Azoic), succeeded by the third See also:stage, C, which included the primordial See also:zone, since recognized as See also:part of the See also:Cambrian of See also:Sedgwick .

The See also:

fourth stage (Stage D), the true lower Silurian, was described by Barrande as including isolated patches of strata with organic remains like those of the Upper Silurian . These assemblages of fossils were designated " Colonies," and regarded as See also:evidence of the See also:early introduction into the See also:area of species from neighbouring districts, that became locally See also:extinct, and reappeared in later stages . The See also:interpretation of Barrande was questioned in 1854 by See also:Edward See also:Forbes, who pointed to the disturbances, overturns and crumplings in the older rocks as affording a more reasonable explanation of the occurrence of .strata with newer fossils amid those containing older ones . Other geologists subsequently questioned the See also:doctrine of "Colonies." In 188o Dr J . E . Marr, from a See also:personal study in the See also:field, brought forward evidence to show that the repetitions of the fossiliferous strata on which the " Colonies " were based were due to faults . The later stages of Barrande, F, G and H, have since been shown by Emanuel See also:Friedrich Heinrich See also:Kayser (b . 1845) to be Devonian . Despite these modifications in the See also:original groupings of the strata, it is recognized that Barrande " made Bohemia classic ground for the study of the See also:oldest fossiliferous formations." He died at Frohsdorf on the 5th of See also:October 1883 . See "See also:Sketch of the See also:Life of See also:Joachim Barrande," Geol . Mag . (1883), p .

529 (with portrait) .

End of Article: JOACHIM BARRANDE (1799-1883)
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